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You can’t stop the music

Scene Staff | Monday, October 14, 2013

Since the Alma Mater is off the table, Scene Staff suggests some alternatives to turn to after a football loss (just in case).

Maddie Daly – If, God forbid, we lose another home football game this season, we are going to have to find another song to play other than the Alma Mater that will keep the students in good spirits as they leave the stadium. Especially if the football team doesn’t stay to sing with us, we need to be distracted from the sadness of the loss and look towards our next chance at victory. Although it would surely upset some older alumni and tradition-obsessed fans, why not play everyone’s favorite song at the moment, Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball?” Okay, maybe it’s not everyone’s favorite, but who can honestly tell me they listen to that song without reflexively shouting out the chorus with accompanying dramatic hand motions? Also, it’s technically about a break-up so the mood is just sad enough to relate to our deep sense of tragedy after a home loss. I would love to see the student section simultaneously screaming out the lyrics while the opposing team’s fans watch with amazement and utter jealousy. Or confusion and judgment, but at least we’d be having fun.

Jimmy Kemper – If the team is feeling particularly bad after a loss, there is absolutely no better way to express this grief than through Miley Cyrus’ smash hit “Wrecking Ball.” The deep, passionate lyrics can be seen as representative of the struggles of how we “came in like a wrecking ball” and “just wanted them to let us in” to the endzone, but only ended up being wrecked in the end. Even in the worst of losses, they can’t ever say we “just walked away.” This song is an absolutely perfect way to end any loss, with a beautiful, appropriate music video to complement the loss and inspire the team to victory next time. The good news is that no matter how bad a loss may seem, we will never hit as low of a rock bottom as Miley has.

Sarah Dieckman– There’s a scene in Season Two of “The Office” where Dwight sits and sulks in his car after witnessing Ryan and Michael bond over business school. His distress over his inability to connect with them prompts him to sit alone in his car, blasting the anthem “Everybody Hurts” through the speakers. Our stadium could be full of Dwights on Saturdays, depending on whether the Fighting Irish can secure a win over their opponents. According to R.E.M., “sometimes everything is wrong. Now it’s time to sing along.” However, the case of a Notre Dame loss seems to be the exception to this rule. Should we lose, students and teammates will not sway and sing the Alma Mater together, leaving the band silent without the traditional fanfare to play. To fix this problem, “Everybody Hurts” is the perfect substitute, highlighting our communal feeling of pain over an unfortunate ending to a night of football and our subsequent urge to find comfort in our friends. This song reminds us that we’re not alone and that everyone sometimes needs to have a good cry when things don’t go their way. Yet, everybody hurts and everybody cries only sometimes. We can’t all perpetually sulk, but rather we must persevere through the rough times until we see that “Irish Win” on the scoreboard again. R.E.M. reminds us to not let ourselves go, but hold on, hold on, hold on…

Matt McMahon- What song better captures the mood of a home loss than “Bad Day?” The title literally expresses exactly how you’re feeling. And no one knows this feeling better than the one hit wonder’s performer, Daniel Powter. First of all, he produced one of the most recognized one hit wonders in the history of music and will be unable to ever reach that level of success again in his career – ahem, Brian Kelly. Secondly, Powter’s last name is a perfect homophone for the word defined as “one who pouts,” like losers often do. The song would match impeccably the crestfallen faces of fans that cameramen always capture when covering those final moments of a game – after all, the camera don’t lie. Now, how often does something like all that come together?

Allie Tollaksen – When watching a losing football game, there are lots of things we, the fans in the bleachers, see coming that the players don’t. Our bird’s eye view from the stands gives us the opportunity to see plays painfully unfold before our half-covered eyes. Occasionally, we fans think about ways each play could have gone, and occasionally, rowdy students voice those thoughts as loudly as possible. It seems that everyone has an opinion of how the game could have gone differently. Because of this, I think a perfect post-game song is Cher’s classic, “If I Could Turn Back Time.” We all know the feeling of walking away from a loss thinking of the possibilities if only they would wind back the game clock. Cher lets it loose in this emotional ballad, and I’m confident that the student body can do the same. With lyrics like, “My world was shattered, I was torn apart, like somebody took a knife and drove it deep in my heart,” Cher understands our pain; she knows that if only we could turn back time, we could find a way to a win.

Isaac Lorton – Statues on our campus most commonly pose in ones speaking of welcome, comfort and love, with their arms and more importantly their hearts, wide open. Like the prodigal son, the Notre Dame football team may have gone out and squandered its talents, money and effort on a loss, but no matter what the outcome is, we as the fans should be like the loving father who welcomes its sin-filled son back into his arms. We should not be like the jealous brother who already has everything and expects everything. The whole time we have been basking in the glory of Our Lady, but we must greet our losing team with joy. What better way to “protect,” as Brian Kelly put it, our football players, than with a nice warm hug? That is why I propose Creed’s “With Arms Wide Open” as the song we should sing instead of the Alma Mater after a loss. When you look to the north and to the heavens, you see Touchdown Jesus and Mary atop the Golden Dome with arms wide open, welcoming our losing football team back into their arms and back into our community. And who better represents Jesus, than his look alike Scott Stapp, who belts out music so angelically?

The views expressed in this column are those of the authors and not necessarily those of The Observer.